A bevy of bold-faced names too numerous to rattle off here – well, OK, they include Bryan Cranston, Marg Helgenberger, Dick Van Dyke and Kristen Bell (R) – will participate in the annual “A Night at Sardi’s” in LA to benefit The Alzheimer’s Association of the California Southland. The event, staged March 5 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, this year features the celebs performing selections from “Bye Bye Birdie.” The annual event has raised over $16 million over the last 15 years.

And if you’re wondering why the benefit takes place in LA – when it’s named after the very famous Manhattan restaurant – that’s because the benefit’s founder, Laurie Burrows Grad, is the daughter of Broadway legend Abe Burrows, who had Alzheimer’s. Laurie spent a lot of time at Sardi’s hanging out with her dad and the celebs with whom he worked. Laurie’s brother, by the way, is noted TV director Jim Burrows.

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“The Celebrity Apprentice” will return for a second season in Jan. ’09. Maybe, in the intervening time, NBC publicists will come up with a better way to shill the show other than writing “You’re Hired” or “You’re Fired” in the headlines of each of the 67,998 press releases that accompany each “Apprentice” season. It’s like those “Ratings are sizzling!” releases that start arriving every July. Enough already.

And in the “Timing is Everything” department, this weekend’s “Saturday Night Live” on NBC repeats the April 2005 show hosted by Pats QB Tom Brady – who’s facing Big Blue in Sunday’s Super Bowl.